COVID-19: Man commits suicide over coronavirus scare

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Chittoor - The panicked man assumed he was infected with coronavirus as doctors advised him to use a mask.

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Published: Wed 12 Feb 2020, 8:46 AM

Last updated: Wed 12 Feb 2020, 4:44 PM

Panic took over a man from Andhra Pradesh, India, who assumed he had contracted the deadly coronavirus and killed himself fearing he would also infect his family.
Balakrishnayya, 50, had visited hospital for his heart ailment when doctors there advised him to wear a mask as he showed symptoms of cold. The man got anxious and quickly concluded he was infected with the novel coronavirus which has killed over 1,000 in China and infected over 40,000 people worldwide.
(COVID-19: Everything you need to know)
According to reports in NDTV, the man who hailed from a village Srikalahasti in Chitoor, feared he would infect his family and other villagers. He locked his family in the house and committed suicide by hanging himself from a tree. "He had gone to hospital for checkup regarding heart ailment. The doctors told him to use a mask and he misunderstood he was infected with coronavirus," the man's son said.
He also said that his father watched many videos about the coronavirus outbreak and assumed his symptoms were that of the deadly infection. "He (his father) wouldn't let any of us come near him. I told him you don't have infection but he wouldn't listen. May be, if he got proper counselling, he would have listened," the son added. 
Although there have been no cases of the novel coronavirus in Andhra Pradesh, the outbreak has caused panic after WHO declared it a global health emergency. In India, three people tested positive for coronavirus in Kerala and they are students who had returned from China's Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak.


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